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116 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
long dispute on account of their having seized the wreck of an
English ship called the ' Anglesea/ but, at length, a treaty of
peace was concluded between the East India Company and
Sevajee Sunknr Punt, styling himself Governor and Com-
mander-in-chief of Sindeedroog, or Malwan.
The Coolie rovers infested the coast of Guzerat. Their
strongho-M-was /Snltanpore on the small river ^Curla, where
they lived undeV-atr organized government countenanced by
persons high in authority, who, as a return for secret protec-
tion, obtained a share in the produce of their depredations.
The Government of Bombay having for some time employed
paid spies in their country, and ascertained the most favourable
time for an expedition, sent against them, in 1734, a small
fleet composed of the sloop ' London,' a bombketch and five
galivats, under Captain Radford Nunn, who, after a sharp fight,
returned in triumph with five of the (Joolies' guns and fourteen
of their vessels, three of which had cargoes, whilst his own loss
included only two Europeans and two natives. The expedition
also burnt five vessels, and the Coolies themselves burnt
fifty more, rather than that they should fall into the hands of
their enemies. Captain Nunn's success, says the writer to
whom we are indebted for material in this portion of our work,
was most important on account of the moral weight which the
English derived from it at a time when they were particularly
anxious to have their maritime power acknowledged at Surat,
and respected by the natives generally. Six months afterwards
two more vessels were taken, and ten burnt. All the prizes
were then sold for the small sum of 3,650 rupees, which the
Government of Bombay resolved should be divided amongst
the captors, but the Court of Directors meanly reversed this
order, and claimed a moiety for themselves.
Within six months the pirates took their revenge by em-
ploying the same spy system which had been so efficacious
against themselves. Acting in collusion with them, the pilot
the Gulf of Cambay. And the coast, from Dand point to Goga, is very dan-
gerous, being thick set with rocks and sandbanks ; and a rapid tide runs amongst
tliem of six or eight miles in an hour, in a channel tliat is twenty fathoms deep
in some places, wiiich causes anclioring to be dangerous also. Goga is a pretty
large town, and has liad some mud wall fortifications, which still defend them
from the insults of their neiglibours, the Coulies, who inhabit the north-east side
of Guzerat, and are as gi-eat thieves by land as their brethren the Warrels and
Sanganians are by sea.
The Eev. G. P. Badger, in his notes to his translation of tlie Arabic " His-
tory of the Imaums or Seyyids of Muscat," has hazarded an hypothesis regarding
these pirates which is incorrect. Quoting Niebuhr's reference to them in 1764,
as " petty people inhabiting the coast," he queries " Malvanes" as Malays, and
" Sangerians" as Angrians. {See Note to jiage 171 of his work.)
Regarding the word Kempsaunt, Hamilton says : — " The Portuguese gave the
name of Kema Sancto, or ' Saint Burner,' to a Eajah whom he calls Kempason,
who, in the year 1696, ravaged tlie country about Vingorla, and entering the
district of Goa, plundered and burnt all he could lay hands on, not sparing the
churches and images."